We caught up with TEKnowLogical’s President, Scott Waschler to discuss the partnership and how the courses can benefit your organisation.

Can you give a brief summary of the courses?

We’re still in the design phase of our ISD (Instructional System Design) model however, the plan is to release three initial tiers of training. These will be…

End User Tutorials

Operator Concierge and Call Management Training

Deployment and System Administration Training

Who are the courses aimed at?

Depending on the course, each one is aimed at a different audience. For example the End User tutorial is much more for mass consumption; it’s for anyone who operates, maintains or schedules Cisco Meeting Server based meetings with VQ Conference Manager. The Operator Concierge and Call Management training course is targeted at people who are assigned to support the End Users through a concierge or scheduling service. The Deployment and System Administrator course is for audiences at an Engineering level. It’s for those who will be deploying VQ Conference Manager and CMS and who will also be responsible for troubleshooting and maintaining the operation of these systems for the long term.

Tell us about your background as a trainer in Acano and CMS?

It was a great compliment back in 2013 when Acano executives called me and asked if I would partner with them as their training distributor; I soon became Acano Certified Trainer #1. My partnership with Acano led me to create the Acano Basic Product course, Acano Certified Operator course and both Acano Certified Expert Parts I and II. Since the Cisco acquisition of Acano, I deliver hands on training on CMS and CMA. Alongside that I am currently engaged in CMS projects as a Deployment and Troubleshooting Engineer. Most recently I have worked with a major U.S Government department.

How have you found working with VQ?

The support and expertise I have received from VQ has really been exceptional. I’ve found the team welcoming and eager to support my efforts with their time and skillset. It’s really exciting to be part of a partnership where I am working with a team of knowledgeable engineers who are both dedicated and passionate about their product.

Why should a user go on the courses?

The truth about training in general is that there is little any trainer can do to replace real-life experience in the classroom environment. However, the idea of this particular training is to get the System Administrator or the Operator to the point where they can go into the field with confidence and be able to immediately impact the operations of the organisation. The training is designed to make sure you’re prepared for the real world environment.

How does the course offer a ROI?

The course is designed to put the organisations investment into use immediately. This involves having a shorter time to deployment, quicker operational time and having operators who are ready to impact the users capabilities. All of these add to the user adoption. Once users have adopted a platform immediate ROI can be seen from factors such as reduced travelling costs.

What do you personally think is the most interesting and exciting parts of the courses?

From an engineering perspective, I believe these courses are interesting as they show the interaction between VQ Conference Manager and CMS. In particular the fact that VQ Conference Manager wraps the complex REST API (Application Programming Interface) exposed by CMS. This allows you to replace very complex hierarchical command structures of collections and objects with an easy to use browser based user interface. Within moments from when you tick these boxes you are able to create entire call leg profiles, user profiles and a lot of other things that would normally take hours of planning to generate.

When will you be running the courses and how frequently?

Beta classes are scheduled for the end of January 2018. Initially I will offer training once every two months, but I will adjust the schedule based on demand.

Where will you be running the courses? Are any parts of the course online?

All of these courses are designed to be held remotely, but will also be scheduled on site in the Washington DC area. As the demand and student concentrations become better understood, we will be glad to adjust to the need. The classes will not just be scheduled on East Coast US time they will be scheduled in three major regions, North America, Europe and APAC.